Promotional art for Romeo and Juliet

Photo by Xina Nicosia

Tragic love comes to the Tiny Ninja Theater with the company's one-night only production of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet July 25 at the Present Company DVL. The benefit performance will raise funds for TNT's 2002 trip to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, where Macbeth will play Aug. 2-25 at the Gateway Theatre.

In Romeo and Juliet, TNT favorites Mr. and Mrs. Smile (Macbeth and Lady Macbeth) are featured as the Friar and the Nurse, respectively, with newcomers Chris Head and Melanie Hipchikz, recruited from the popular "Homie" figures, as Romeo and Juliet. Tiny Ninja's Romeo and Juliet premiered on May 25, 2002 at the Piccolo Spoleto Festival in Charleston, South Carolina and is expected to return to New York City after Macbeth's stint at the Edinburgh Fringe.

Tiny Ninja Theatre, founded in 1999 by director Dov Weinstein, had a huge hit at the 2000 New York Fringe Festival with their staging of Shakespeare's Macbeth. Since then, the company has attempted a history of the D.U.M.B.O. area of Brooklyn and Shakespeare's Sonnets.

Tickets are $20 with only 25 seats available. The Present Company DVL is located at 198 Stanton Street between Attorney and Ridge. For reservations, call (212) 769-8448. Tiny Ninja Theater is on the web at http://www.tinyninjatheater.com.

— By Christine Ehren